Perfection at the Pianoforte
by Kassolas
Summary: Emma has practiced Diligently to improve her skills at the piano, but her husband doesn't seem to notice a significant improvement. set a few months after the end of the book.


**I recently listened to An Audio book of Emma, and since I couldn't get enough of it, I watched the movie, then read several fan-fictions, and Finally, I wrote my own. please tell me what you think.**

 *** Means change of perspective between Emma and Mr. Knightley.**

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Emma Knightley was sitting at her pianoforte, practicing a song with more diligence than she had ever exercised in the pursuit of music before.

She had been married to Mr. George Knightley for a few months, and she was extremely happy… until Mr. Knightley had to go to town on an urgent business matter, with no notion of how long he would be gone except that it wouldn't be long. It had been a week since he had left, and instead of dwelling on the fact that she missed him, Emma immediately took up a new project as soon as he left. She would learn a new song on the pianoforte and practice it so faithfully that by the time Mr. Knightley got home, she would play it so perfectly that it would please him exceedingly.

So, she had continued to practice every day since her husband left, and now she found that she was playing with more skill than she ever had before. She had gone through the whole song with only a few mistakes, and it was a rather more difficult song than she was used to. She decided she would play through it one more time, then be done for the day.

As Mr. Knightley entered through the door of Hartfield, he could hear the pianoforte playing. He followed the sound to the music room and stood at a distance, watching his dear Emma, and staying quiet so as not to interrupt such a fine performance.

Emma was very pleased as she finished the song. She had not made one mistake. "a perfect performance." She thought. She jumped at the sound of clapping behind her. She had not notice that Mr. Knightley was there.

"Well Emma, if you keep on in this way, you'll be well on your way toward perfection!" He said. He really thought that the performance already was perfect, but he was so pleased to see Emma practicing so diligently, and he didn't want to give her a reason to quit.

Emma smiled brightly upon realizing her Mr. Knightly was home, but the smile faded at what he said. "What?" she asked.

"If you keep up practicing like this, you may yet achieve perfection at the pianoforte." Mr. Knightley said, slightly puzzled.

Emma's heart hurt a little bit. She thought she had achieved perfection, at least with that particular song. She should have realized that Mr. Knightley would find something wanting in her performance. It hurt all the more that all her practice had been for his benefit, and he seemed barely pleased. "Well," She said, "If there is such a small hope of my ever reaching a tolerable level of skill, then I may as well give up on the instrument entirely."

"Emma, what do you mean? I just said you should keep up the practice! And now you want to give it up?" He asked, his voice slightly incredulous.

"Yes. It is clear to me that my performance at the pianoforte will never be fully pleasing to you, so I am resolved to no longer try. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to… go ask inform the cook that you will be with us for dinner." Emma said, as she moved past him to leave the room.

"Emma, wait! I only just got home!" Mr. Knightley said, not quite sure what he had done wrong, and slightly disappointed in Emma's reaction. He was pretty sure that wasn't the way wives normally greeted their husbands after a long trip. Well, he would let her be for now. He decided he ought to find Mr. Woodhouse and inform him of his arrival. At least he would be glad that Mr. Knightley was home safe.

Mr. Knightley found Mr. Woodhouse in his usual chair by the fire, and greeted him.

"Ah Mr. Knightley. I'm glad to see you! I was beginning to wonder if you had taken ill in London and would be obliged to stay there longer. You are well, aren't you? I wouldn't want you to ride all the way here if you were ill, even if it did deprive us of your company." Mr. Woodhouse said.

"I am quite well, thank you." Mr. Knightley said, "And glad to be back, though it was hard as always to part from my brother and sister and their children. John and Isabella send their greetings to you."

"Poor Isabella, she longs to be here herself I know. It is hard for her to live so far from Hartfield. I wonder that they didn't all move here when they say that you moved in so Emma could stay. It is such a comfort to Emma that she continues to live here. Mr. Woodhouse seemed to realize something when he mentioned Emma. "Thank you for greeting Me Mr. Knightley, but I'm sure you would rather be speaking with Emma and are wondering where she is. I think you'll find Emma at the pianoforte. She's been practicing at it every day. Dear Emma is so accomplished you know. I believe she has been practicing a particular song that she is hoping to play for you, now that you are returned. I'm sure you will find the performance as perfect as everything Emma does."

On Hearing these words, realization and guilt hit Mr. Knightly. He hadn't known she had practiced so much just to please him. No wonder she was so disappointed to hear his comment. Besides that, he knew the performance was perfect, so he should have told her so immediately. His motive in not telling her had been completely selfish. He had to find her and set things right. "Thank you, Mr. Woodhouse, I will go look for her." He said, and left the room.

Emma went to the cook like she said she would, then went to her personal room to be alone. As soon as she shut the door she started crying. She couldn't help it. On the one hand, she really didn't want to give up music, especially since she was enjoying it more than ever. However, she knew she couldn't enjoy it if Mr. Knightley didn't enjoy it as well. On thinking about him, she wondered if she had overreacted a little bit. As disappointing as his response to her performance was, she was certain he meant well. She resolved that as soon as she could hide any indication that she had been crying, she would find him and apologize.

It was at that moment that she heard a knock at her door. She wasn't ready yet, she still had tears in her eyes. She waited a moment to see if he would go away.

"Emma, are you in there? I need to speak with you." She heard Mr. Knightley say. Then in a humble tone he added, I owe you an apology."

"You owe me an apology!?" She exclaimed in spite of herself. So much for waiting till the tears were gone.

"Yes. Will you open the door?" Mr. Knightley asked, in the same humble tone.

Emma moved toward the door, but didn't open it. "But I'm the one who needs to apologize to you. I overreacted to your criticism, and I'm sure it is because I was thinking to highly of myself. I know you always tell me the truth so my performance must not have been as good as I thought. I am sorry, but I do mean to give up playing the pianoforte, for if it can't please you, it won't please me." She said.

"My Dearest Emma," Mr. Knightley said standing outside her door. "I'm afraid you are mistaken in thinking that I am above reproach. I told you once that you would get nothing but the truth from me, but in this case… Well I lied. I said if you kept practicing you might achieve perfection, but the truth is, you already have. Your performance was perfect and the only reason I said what I did was so that I would get to have the pleasure of hearing you continue to practice."

The door opened suddenly, catching Mr. Knightley by surprise. "did you really think it was perfect?" Emma asked.

"Yes." He said, then noticed her face. "Dearest, have you been crying?" he asked ashamed. "I am truly sorry Emma. I have caused you pain. I hope you can forgive me."

"Oh George of course I forgive you!" Emma said, throwing her arms around him and catching him off guard once again. He quickly recovered and hugged her back. "I'm glad your home." She said into his chest.

"Me too." He said. "will you play that song again after dinner?" He asked after a pause.

Emma gave him a mischievous smile. "I don't know Mr. Knightley. Perhaps I might be convinced to do it, if you ask me again at the time, and possibly repeat how perfect you thought it was."

Mr. Knightley smiled, he knew that was a yes. "Well I only know it was perfect. I won't be able to tell how perfect unless you play it for my again. They continued to banter that way for some time, happily enjoying each other's company.

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 **Hope You liked it! I do have another idea for a longer Emma story bouncing around in my head, but I don't know if I'll write it anytime soon. I noticed I wrote Knightly instead of Knightley every single time so I had to go through and fix them. :p let me know if I missed one.**


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